Published in The Technology Teacher, November, 2009, by the International Technology Education Association

Make a Pinhole Camera

The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, or M83, is shown in ultraviolet light in this image. NASAs Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft took this picture of M83 at intervals between March 15 and May 20, for a total exposure time of 3 hours 42 minutes. In fact, it is one of the deepest, or longest-exposure, images of a nearby galaxy ever made in ultraviolet light. Many GALEX images have exposure times of several hours. GALEX is not only seeing a wavelength of light that is invisible to our eyes, but it is also seeing light that is much too dim to register on even its sensitive detectors without exposing them for a very long time. So GALEXs images are pictures of light recorded over time, thus revealing information that would otherwise be unknowable. On Earth, using ordinary visible light, we can also create a single image of light recorded over time. Of course a movie or video is light recorded over time, but it is a series of instantaneous snapshots, rather than light and time both recorded on the same medium. A pinhole camera, which is simple to make out of ordinary materials and using ordinary photographic lm, can be placed anywhere and left for several minutes to record whatever photons enter it. Like GALEX, it can be placed in dim light or nearly in the dark, and, if left open long enough, will record an impression of all that goes on in its eld of view.

How to Make a Pinhole Camera

In this activity, you will make your own pinhole camera, and discover its creative possibilities. Tools you will need Bottle opener X-acto knife or mini-utility knife (with new blade), or small, sharp scissors Single hole punch (optional) Push pin or needle (with perfect point) Straight edge with metal edge Ballpoint pen (ink color other than black is best) Materials Cardboard cereal box (single layer, attened) Scotch tape (not the removable kind) Black electrical tape Disposable aluminum pie tin (any size) 35-mm color print lm, ISO 200, 24 or 36 exposures Empty lm canister, with spool (not the plastic container with the snap-off cap, but the metal canister that goes inside the camera. May be available free from a 1-hour Photo facility) 4-inch piece of old 35-mm lm, developed (negative strip) or not Popsicle stick, cut in half

Read these important instructions rst!

1. Photocopy pattern page at exact size. Do not reduce or enlarge the pattern. The camera is designed to exactly t the 35-mm lm canisters. 2. Scotch-tape uncut page of pattern pieces to nonprinted side of cardboard. (If page does not t on your box without pattern pieces laying on cereal box folds, cut the page apart above the lm chamber piece, and lay that piece on the other half of the box.) Using straightedge and ballpoint pen, score all fold lines. Press hard! Red or blue pen will help you see which lines you have already scored. 3. Using X-acto knife, rst cut out the holes in the camera pieces. When you cut the round holes for lm spools, do not cut them too big or you will create light leaks. If you do not have an X-acto knife, you can rst cut out the camera body with scissors, then use a single hole punch to start the spool holes. Insert progressively fatter pens to gently enlarge the openings to the correct size for the lm spools to t tightly. To make straight cuts, use the straightedge to guide the knife. Hold knife vertically. Dont press too hard, but go over the cuts two or three times to get through the cardboard. 4. Fold pieces on score lines and assemble as shown.

How does a pinhole camera work?

A pinhole camera is a light-proof box. Light enters the box through a tiny pinhole on one side and strikes the opposite wall of the box, where lightsensitive paper or lm (or even a CCD) records an image. The recorded image is upside down (as in all cameras) and focused because the light rayswhich travel in straight linesdo not cross each other inside the box. A pinhole camera is the opposite of high-tech. In that way it is very unlike GALEX. However, it uses some of the same basic principles. It is fun at times to go back to the basics and make something with our own hands that we can understand and use creatively.

Published in The Technology Teacher, November, 2009, by the International Technology Education Association
Step 1: Reversed film canister
Using bottle opener, carefully pop off one side of an old film canister. Work gently and slowly around the edge of the cap, prying only slightly each time until the cap is released from the sides of the canister.

Step 2: Shutter

Step 3: Pinhole
Using a circular motion, carefully push just the tip of a push-pin or needle into a small piece of thin aluminum. The pinhole should be very, very small!

Flip canister over, but not spool. Remove the spool from the canister. Scotchtape the end of a 4-inch length of old film to the spool, as shown, and reinsert the spool into the canister upside down. Scotch-tape

Step 4: Film chamber

Back plate

Fold the film chamber at the scored seams.

Tape the end of a new roll of film onto the piece of old film on the reversed film canister. Tape both sides.

Except for the back plate, tape the film chamber together with Scotch tape, then light-proof it with black electrical tape. Put it up to the light and make sure no light comes through the seams. Tape the piece of aluminum containing the pinhole onto the front of the film chamber with black electrical tape, centering it over hole.

Step 5: Camera body

Fold the camera body at the scored seams.

Except for the back panel, tape the camera body together with Scotch tape. Then light-proof it with black electrical tape.Put it up to the light and make sure no light comes through the seams.

Note that film splice looks different on back, where narrow leader does not show. Tab Place the film down over the film chamber window and carefuly slip tabs on each side of the film chamber into film canister. Close back plate flap over film and secure with Scotch tape.

Tape the shutter onto the front of the camera body with Scotch tape. Then light-proof it with black electrical tape.

Step 6: Put it all together

Slip the finished film chamber and film into the camera body, making sure the tops of the spools slip through the holes on top of the camera body. Tape the back of the camera body shut and light-proof it with black electrical tape. Use a cut-down Popsicle stick as a winder knob by slipping it into the top of the film spindle.

Back plate

Apply black electrical tape to light-proof film chamber and hold film canisters in place.

Published in The Technology Teacher, November, 2009, by the International Technology Education Association

Tape this exposure guide to the back of your camera Back Panel 1 to 2 seconds 5 to 10 seconds 1 to 3 minutes 10 to 15 minutes Shutter

Wind film a full turn after every shot.

Sunny: Cloudy: Indoors: Night:

REWIND

WIND

Camera Body

Film Chamber

Cereal Box Pinhole Camera Plans

Print or copy at 100%. Discard all grey areas. 3

Shutter

Published in The Technology Teacher, November, 2009, by the International Technology Education Association

Taking pictures Consult the exposure guide that you taped to the back of the camera. Because of the long (1 second to 15 minutes or more) exposure times needed, its best to set the camera on a solid surface so it wont move during exposures. Pull the shutter tab up to expose lm, and push it back down at the end of the desired exposure time. Try not to jiggle the camera when you open and close the shutter. Dont forget to advance the lm! Turn the winder stick one complete 360 turn right after every picture you take. Photos taken with a pinhole camera are different from other photos. They are usually a little fuzzy. However, all parts of the image will be equally in focus, which may give the image a soft, ethereal quality. Keep a record of exposure times while taking pictures for the rst roll or two of lm to help you learn the idiosyncrasies of your camera. Unloading lm from camera When you get to the end of the roll, you will feel resistance in the winder stick. Switch the stick to the new lm spool and rewind the lm back into its canister. Stop when you feel resistance. Your exposed lm is safely back in its light-proof canister. Carefully remove the tape sealing the back of the camera, and remove the lm chamber. Remove the tape from the back plate and lm canisters and slip the tabs out of the canisters. Remove the tape splicing the new lm to the piece of old lm taped to the reversed lm canister. Use the Popsicle stick to wind the end of the new lm into its canister. Have lm processed and printed by a 1-hour Photo or similar service. Be sure to tell the technician that the lm is from a homemade pinhole camera, and warn them that gaps between the exposed areas will vary. If your prints come back cut off in the wrong places or if unexposed areas of the lm are printed, ask them to print them again correctly at no charge. Types of pictures to try Indoors, up close to small, intricate objects, see how much detail you can record. Take multiple photos of the same object at varying distances (making note of the distances), and see how the eld of view is affected (that is, wide angle or narrow angle view). Take pictures outside in sun and in shade, or on a cloudy day. Try capturing the night, outside, on a busy street with automobile trafc passing by. You may need exposure times of 10 minutes or more. Take a 10-15 minute night ride in the car on city streets. Tape the camera to the cars dashboard. You
4

Night drive. will get a true recording of light and time! Make a portrait of yourself or someone else, in good light so your subject doesnt have to hold still too long. Try playing around with movement during the exposurelike having the subject move his or her head to appear to have two heads! Search for Web sites on pinhole photography to see photo galleries that may give you more ideas.

Discussion questions
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. How does the Galaxy Evolution Explorer take images of very faint and faraway objects? Why does a pinhole camera not need a lens? Why are the needed exposure times for photos using a pinhole camera usually longer than for a lens camera? What would happen if the pinhole in the camera were too large? What might happen if the pinhole in the camera were not round? How would the focus of the photos be affected if you could make the pinhole even smaller? How would the exposure time for the photos be affected if you could make the pinhole even smaller? Do you think the size of the box matters when making a pinhole camera? Why is the image recorded on the lm inverted in a camera? Do the photos from your pinhole camera express a view of the world a little different from sharp, hightech photos?

This article was written by Diane Fisher and Alexander Novati. Ms. Fisher is writer of The Space Place website at spaceplace.nasa.gov. Mr. Novati is designer and illustrator of The Space Place. The article was provided through the courtesy of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.